Got Toast?
by Dragnotchi
Summary: [ Some GuyxNatalia fluff ][ Oneshot ] Nor did they expect to be heavily outnumbered. In fact, they were so offguard that she had to shove the slices of toast into her pocket. Now they were probably ruined…


Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the Abyss, even though I wish I did

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Got Toast?  
_By: Dragnotchi_

_--_

The forest was dark, as it always was, and a group of six was making their way through it. Or, more correctly, they were fighting their way through it. Natalia was in the midst of the battle, smoothly drawing the string to her ear before sighting another enemy.

It hadn't been too long ago that their group had been laughing and joking, but a few short minutes and being sighted by enemies could change that. Of course, they had never expected the large party of brigands to strike… Nor did they expect to be heavily outnumbered. In fact, they were so off-guard that she had to shove the slices of toast into her pocket. Now they were probably ruined…

A large mace-man swung his weapon over his head. She side stepped, tripping him with her bow. Certainly when she started off on this journey, she hadn't expected to be fighting at every twist and turn. But Natalia knew she shouldn't be complaining, and with a grin, notched another arrow before letting it fly.

After all, palace life would be dreadfully boring, and the world was a much better place to explore.

The wave decreased as more and more bandits fell under the power of her small group, though to make matters worse, they were still swarming from behind the trees. At this rate, it would be a wonder that they wouldn't attract every monster in the forest.

"Natalia, watch out!" That was Luke. She quickly jumped back as a flame scorched the land where she had been standing.

"Thank-you, Luke!" She called back, a grin on her face. An arrow was drawn before she pulled the string back to meet her ear, and sighting the mage, focused in on the arte she needed. "Piercing Line!" She cried as the arrow swooped through the air, shining with the power behind it. The mage crumpled to the ground, and she could hear a sigh of relief from Luke.

But the battle was hardly over. Taking a moment to rest, Natalia let her eyes wander the battlefield, looking over every one of her companions. Tear and Anise were working side-by-side on one large axe-wielder as Jade was preparing to cast the arte stalagmite. On a far corner, Luke was dueling with another sword-wielder, while in the center of it all, Guy was clutching his side, gasping for breath.

"O soothing light… Heal!" She cried, letting the arte help her companion.

Guy straightened, looking her way with a frown. "Don't waste your artes," he replied instead of a simple 'thank-you'. Natalia scowled, hands coming to rest on her hips. He _always_ said that! Couldn't he just save his breath?

"I don't need to hear that from you!"

Guy only shook his head and disappeared into the battle once more. Natalia dropped into her offensive crouch once more, not liking the screeches that were coming from the forest behind her. Soon, as she had expected, monsters swarmed the battlefield. She was swept along with them, winding up into the center of the fray.

She reached back to her quiver, drawing an arrow as a wolf lunged at her. Blocking the sweeping claws with her bow, she slashed the canine's eyes with the metal tip of the projectile, drawing blood and crippling the creature. Wasting no time, she shot a thief right in front of her.

"Watch where you're aiming that thing!" Anise cried indignantly. "You almost hit me!"

"If I wasn't aiming then I would have," Natalia replied with a scowl before retreating to the sidelines. The center of the action was no place for an archer, even if it was her wielding the bow.

The bodies on the ground began to pile up, and Natalia ignored the ache in her arms and the blood begging to collect on her legs from the fallen bodies she was stepping over. Most of the bandits were dead, and some had run away only to be followed by Tear and Jade, leaving the remaining brigands and monsters in Anise, Luke, and Guy's capable hands.

Wait a minute… Where was Guy?

Feeling cold all of a sudden as she couldn't spot her companion, her eyes began to rove the bodies of the dead, but the manservant's body was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he hadn't been killed, but where was he? She hadn't seen him go off with Tear and Jade.

Reaching for an arrow from her quiver, she found her hands groping for something that wasn't there. Feeling naked without her arrows, she was glad to find that she at least had two left, not to mention her lead-enforced bow and her quiver. Cautiously leaving the battlefield, first making sure that no one needed immediate healing, she moved into the forest.

She walked silently to catch any sign of the male's voice or shouts as he fought someone else. Of course, she thought, certainly he couldn't have gotten away without anyone seeing. But no one would think twice if Guy moved off of the battlefield, that is, no one that was caught up in sword fighting, or mowing creatures over with a giant doll.

Soon, as the battle sounds from Luke and Anise died off; she heard new ones in the distance. Hoping that she hadn't stumbled upon Jade and Tear, she huddled beneath a patch of bushes amid the thicket of another clearing, head just poking over the leaves that dotted the plant.

A smile spread across the Kimlascan princess's face as she spotted Guy in the clearing, though the expression drooped as she spotted his opponent. The fellow was larger than the swordsman, wielding what seemed to be a sharp dagger and a long sword, the two weapons against Guy's one making combat far tougher than it normally was.

She watched, not daring to interrupt their dance of blades, as Guy slowly tired while the other male was as fresh as he could be. He had thick armor covering his body, and she felt a twang of unease, much like her own bowstring, go off in her heart. If Guy got in deeper than his head, she couldn't possibly save him. Her arrows from the range she was at couldn't pierce the thick armor. Natalia didn't doubt that it would take a crossbow instead of her stave to pierce the metal pieces.

The clanging of the blades grew fiercer, though the noise of blade against blade was cut off as one went flying. Right towards her. With a squeak of shock, Natalia flew backwards, stumbling over her own feet, as a sword lodged itself where she had been kneeling.

Blowing leaves out of her mouth, she knew before she looked at the sword that it was Guy's. There was no possible way that with all of his skills as a swordsman he could take away the weapon of his much larger foe.

Swallowing as she looked over the bushes, afraid that she would see Guy's blood-soaked body on the ground, she was surprised to see him standing with the dagger at his neck, glaring at his opponent.

Without thinking, Natalia notched one of her last arrows and brought her bow up, taking a shot at the dagger. The arrow had the desired effect; the weapon fell to the forest floor, allowing Guy enough time to turn away from the fatal swing of the small giant's sword.

"Natalia, get out of here!" He called before a cry of pain came from him as the blade bit into his side. Not thinking, far past caring about her life while one of her friends, her citizen, was on the ground, Natalia stepped forward, her last arrow on her bowstring, ready to be fired at any moment.

"Oh, a girlie, eh?" The large man said with a grin. She could tell by his voice that he was one of the thieves…perhaps the leader of the group that had attacked them. "What are you going to do? Attempt to shoot me with that arrow? Your last one was a poor shot."

She straightened, indignant, about to address him by her real title, when Guy sprang in. "She's a better shot with that bow than you are with your sword!" He said from the ground, earning him a kick in the ribs from the thief.

"Piercing line!" Natalia cried, letting her arrow fly through the air. It rammed into his chest piece, denting the thick piece of metal before her last resort shattered on impact.

That was all the chance he needed to charge at her, sword drawn, attempting to lop her head off. She took the blow with her bow, wincing at the tremors that ran through her arms. She couldn't handle much more, she knew.

Valiantly, the princess blocked the male's attacks with her bow, chips of wood flying as the thick wood of her weapon stopped the blade. She knew that there wasn't much time to think. Ignoring the cuts that sprang up on her arms from his weapon as he slashed without direction, she looped the string around his sword, spinning the string so as his blade was caught.

Hurling the bow with all of her strength, it and the blade fell yards away, out of reach from herself and her assailant. Natalia backed away, mind scrabbling for something to attack him with. It was then that her hand strayed to her pocket, bringing out a square of a piece of toast she had made that morning.

It was a lump of charred bread, as heard as a rock, and with a grin, she threw it at the male. The toast clanged off of his helm, leaving a dent the size of her fist there. The thief continued advancing. Her assault with her toast projectiles continued, and Natalia was down to her last lump as he threw off his helm, it dented beyond belief. That was her chance.

Taking it, she threw the piece of toast, hitting him squarely between the eyes. He crumpled to the ground, knocked unconscious by the bread.

Well, Luke had always said that her cooking was deadly.

However, her victory did not last long as her eyes focused in on Guy sprawled on the ground a few feet off. Uncaring of his gynophobia, she dropped to her knees beside him, carefully tipping the servant onto his back to see the full extent of the wound on his side.

"I really did it this time, didn't I?" He asked with a wry grin, sweat springing out on his face. Natalia placed the blame on his phobia, though she continued to inspect the deep gash on his side. She knew that with this, along with the fracture in one of his ribs, her mana would be gone as soon as she healed him, placing herself in the danger of death as well. But Natalia was far past caring at this point.

"I've seen worse," she said, lying through her teeth, and he knew it. She sighed as she placed her hands on his chest, ready to heal him. That is, until she felt his hand trail up her arm.

She looked down at the ligament that had stopped with a finger to a red stain on her sleeve. "You're hurt." He said, more of a statement than a question. She cast him a wry smile that matched his own.

"They're nothing," she said before closing her eyes and beginning the familiar chant that would heal him. His hand fell from her arm, and she could feel him slipping. _Hold on Guy… _she thought, biting her lip before letting the arte take over. She felt it knitting up his gash, restoring the lost blood to his system slowly, and even spanned the fracture in his ribs, seamlessly healing them all.

She wavered above him; feeling exhausted as the thrill of the casting left her.

"Don't waste your artes," he said with a grin to her, and she knew by now that in his own way, Guy was thanking her.

"I don't need to hear that from you," she told him for the sake of a continued tradition before she collapsed on him, the darkness sweeping over her mind as her body contended with the steep loss of mana.

--

"Master, I found them!" Mieu said, running up to Luke as he scanned the trees, looking for Guy and Natalia who both had disappeared during the battle.

"Good work Thing." The duke's son replied. "Can you lead me to them?"

"Mieu! Sure thing, Master!"

"I'm coming along too," Tear said, coming to walk beside Luke. He nodded, though he was more concerned about the well being of his friends than who was going where.

Mieu brought them to a small clearing, though not before they passed a sword stuck deeply in the ground. "That's Guy's" Luke said with a frown, prying the blade out of the ground easily, a task that Natalia had hardly dared trying earlier. They continued through the thicket, coming into the clearing to see the unconscious form of a large brigand on the ground, lumps of what looked to be stones around him.

"Isn't that Natalia's toast?" Mieu asked as he inspected the lumps.

Luke was about to shout at him when an elbow pried into his ribs. Tear silenced him with a gesture before pointing to the two figures lying on the ground.

Natalia had apparently fallen onto Guy, her head on his chest, arms curled under her chest. By all appearances she was sleeping, but the two guessed through the stains on her sleeves that she had fainted from blood loss. However, the oddest thing about her was that she was wearing a content smile. Hardly befitting of a woman who had looked death in the face with the thief leader.

Guy was wearing a similarly content expression; a rip in his shirt showing newly healed skin. The thing that was the most out of the ordinary was that his arms were wrapped protectively around the princess, as though even in his unconsciousness he was still protecting her from any enemies that were about.

Silently, Luke and Tear placed the weapons by the two, appointing Mieu to watch them until they woke up before dragging the leader's body back to Anise and Jade for looting and the decision over what would be his fate.

In the meanwhile, the two continued slumbering in the darkness, sure that when they were recovered the other would guide them to the light. And, for the first time in a long while, Natalia and Guy felt truly safe.

--

End.


End file.
